29 November 2005

Today we look a bit closer at how sin-talk spins the image of the "welfare-queen" in "Do No Harm."

One writer notes that the images of the welfare queen cast her in the role of sinner.
First, there is the image of the sexually irresponsible woman, which brings along with it the image of unsacramentalized sexual activity ("children out of wedlock"). Second, there is the image of aberrant matriarchy. ...these women preside over weak families who are prone to misanthropic social behaviors, that is, families who produce offspring better termed urban predators than children.

It is so important to realize how quickly these thoughts can move through the minds of people who have been hearing years of sin-talk directed at these women. Without thinking...simply at a glance, often woman of color or women quickly seen as being poor whites are underfire. This is the worse kind of fire under which one can fall because it not only damages the one woman, it is a part of the ongoing degradation of other woman who may fit into a stereotypical picture. In a glance, we damage many. Unless we break through the aura presented by sin-talk, by actually meeting and spending time with these women, that image built up through our sin-talk will win the day. This is the reason people in the Church must keep pushing ourselves beyond our own kind. We must, at all times, find ways to move through and over and around the words that have become the death of a whole group of people...and unjustly so.

Connection: Yes, there are people like the ones depicted in a stereotype. That is how stereotypes get made. But, our use of sin-talk expands that vision to all. Is there any way to reach through that wall today...reach through and see things in a new way?

Within all your children, O God, is your face. And yet we become lazy and resist the opportunity to see how your face takes on different textures and shapes and comes out of life situations that are not our own. Give us the gift of seeing with the eyes of your blessed Reign. Amen.